How much does formula cost?

[ScarlettCrossbones]

I'm debating/beating myself up about whether to switch DC3 onto formula. He's 7.5 months and his whole life has been punctuated with periods of biting, dodgy latch, nervous anticipation, etc etc. DC1 and 2 were better but not great, and I managed to get to a year with both of them. But it was a bloody endurance test towards the end. I'd love to love BF but sometimes I just want to stop ... fed up of having my boobs hanging out at all times and in all weathers (freezing during the middle of the night when I feed him atm!!).

Anyway, I've never used formula and cost is definitely one of my main considerations now. It would stick in my throat to pay through the nose for something I'm currently providing for free! If I did switch him, how much do you estimate another 4.5 months-worth would be? Plus bottles as I don't have any. Or could I just give him formula in a sippy cup? He's starting to realise you can get a drink out of those ...

(And if anyone has any great biting tips that I haven't already tried in 2.5 years of BF, I'd LOVE to hear them . Thx

about 7 £ a tin = a weeks worth in the first year.
at this age you don't need a bottle, you can feed from a zippy cup instead (would be better for the teeth anyway).

So we're talking about £120 then. Hmm. I actually switched the other 2 to cow's milk at about 11.5 months as I thought 2 weeks wouldn't make much difference! Thanks for that - will think ...

Right, this is going to show how unbelievably anal I am (and I'm also an accountant in RL ). I also switched to FF when DS was 7.5mo (a couple of weeks ago) and I've worked out:

Currently make up 4 x 7oz bottles per day so that's 28 scoops per day with each scoop being 4.5g, so thats 126g per day, 882g per week. A carton of formula is 900g is thats basically a box per week.

I will be using formula for approx. 20 weeks so, at a cost of about £7.20 per box (I'm using C&G first milk) this will cost £144.

This will probably reduce as I presume he will drop to 3 bottles, then only 2 (morning and evening) at some point but no sign of that yet!

I would try using the sippy cup so you don't need to use bottles (I'm trying to move over at the mo) and you don't need to sterilise so I would say it would cost approx £150 all in.

Sorry if this is far more info than you were looking for !!

sorry x-posts. mouseymouse said the same as me in FAR less words!!

Thank you, Mull! That's very comprehensive!

mull, if you want to be really anal you should calculate the cost of the electricity used to boil the water to make the formula

LOL I always make up my bottles at the same time as I put on a cuppa/prepare dinner to avoid boiling the kettle too many times

I know, I know! I'm going back to work in Jan and, even though I'm not looking forward to it, maybe it will stop me being such a bore on MN!

I always make a cup of tea when I boil the water too. Gotta get your money's worth! As for me, was about £32 a month before my son was weaned, is now down to about £24 a month and will go down again to about £16 once he is down to 2 feeds a day. So all in all, I expect to have spent about £320 on formula in a year (roughly, will be in bit less in reality as I mix fed for the first 6 weeks).